Baydale
Well-Known Member
Ok, I may be being a tad melodramatic, but my enthusiasm at getting back into the sport after 8 weeks off has soon been tempered by the frustration of not being able to do it well enough.
HumungaHorse was over the moon to be at a competition and I swear I saw him stick his tongue out at JP as he was heckling me warming-up. HH squeaked and bounced and was easily encouraged by other horses doing the same, so I decided damage limitation was the name of the game.
He bounced down the centre line, tripped over a few times (lumpy arenas and big feet do not go hand in hand, or hoof in hoof even
), had a violent head-shaking fit when a fly dared come near his ear, bounced and swished through both medium canters, then refused to pay attention for our last walk/trot transition and the following halt, swinging his quarters deftly to the right so it looked like we had travers-ed down the centre line.
Oh well, I was thinking 44 would be about right but was surprised to see he got 34.6, and it probably didn't look as bad on the video as it felt (sensitive? moi?
)
BBs and Gina (everyone thinks that Gina's name is "Gina Whobredwilliam" after OH introduced her to all our friends as such
) and I walked the course: enough to do, I thought: water early on at fence 3, hanging log to corner at 8 and 9, new coffin-ish fence at 15 and skinny triple brush out of second water, but nothing like Belton or Burnham which he'd done with his "other rider".
A good first-timers course as always.....just as well really as it was MY first time intermediate on him.
There was a delay on the showjumping so even after going up there late there were still 29 to go - I stood and watched and BBs held HH while he entertained himself by headbanging, strange horse. I felt quite sick by that time, but gave myself a good talking-to (after irritating the hell out of BBs and Gina with my "I can't do it" cr@p), got on and warmed-up - the standard 5 fences warm-up - then went down to jump. As you may have gathered, HH is, well huge really (17.3 at the last measure
), and still very weak for a just 7yo, so showjumping is taking some time to come together. However I felt that I rode a pretty good round, no major panics, he was sharp enough, eye on the fence and really trying for me, so how gutted was I to have four down? Very is an understatement.
He had the first fence - was having a poo at the time - then the oxer and the upright of the related distance which seemed to catch a few people out, and then rolled the back rail of the last oxer, which was well up to height. He jumped great through the double of uprights and the treble which I thought he might struggle with, and even jumping the second fence whilst disunited he was fine, but the ones he had down he just had behind, and not clouting them, just touching them on the way up. JP's comments were (bearing in mind he didn't see the round) that unfortunately I will have rounds like that while he's getting stronger, but it's still gutting to have that many when you feel like you and the horse have done a half-decent job of riding the track. Patience and practice are what we need I think, so don't write us off quite yet.
Onto happier things, the cross country: I didn't even have a hint of butterflies when I went into the start box, I was just so looking forward to a steady, fun round. HH set sail with the tail swishing, bottom bouncing (his, not mine
) and generally having a ball. I showjumped a few of the straightforward ones - don't ask me why, but probably because I didn't trust my eye that the stride I'd seen was the right one so decided to add one (always a useful option I find
) - but the more difficult ones came more easily, if that makes sense. He was fab to the first water, straight as a die through the double of corners, popped the hanging log and then hooned down the bank to the corner, much the same to the logs on the bank and the skinny after, then flew through the coffin without even clocking the ditch. I got him back for the second water, got a nice deep spot for the hedge in, then rode the three strides to the step up but the depth of the water and the drag just made him land up the step a bit flat; we trotted to the skinny brush (good trot being better than flat, flappy canter I decided
), he popped that and off to the last fence. Lots of "good boys" as we finished and by the time we walked back to the lorry he'd got his breath back. All good then: Baydale happy, HH over the moon (still
) that he got to do his favourite bit, and great fun was had by all.
So, after much navel-gazing and chats with various peeps, the long and the short of it is that I've only got one of the three parts that really needs some work; I've got to be patient (I'm trying to learn to love the "p" word, but it's hard) and he's a big horse who's going to take time to get it all together, but when it does he'll be fab....not that he's not fab at the moment, but just not quite fab enough (spot the perfectionist).
Tea and scones for anyone who's not nodded off by now.
Stats are: 34.6, 16 and 16.8 time.
HumungaHorse was over the moon to be at a competition and I swear I saw him stick his tongue out at JP as he was heckling me warming-up. HH squeaked and bounced and was easily encouraged by other horses doing the same, so I decided damage limitation was the name of the game.
BBs and Gina (everyone thinks that Gina's name is "Gina Whobredwilliam" after OH introduced her to all our friends as such
There was a delay on the showjumping so even after going up there late there were still 29 to go - I stood and watched and BBs held HH while he entertained himself by headbanging, strange horse. I felt quite sick by that time, but gave myself a good talking-to (after irritating the hell out of BBs and Gina with my "I can't do it" cr@p), got on and warmed-up - the standard 5 fences warm-up - then went down to jump. As you may have gathered, HH is, well huge really (17.3 at the last measure
Onto happier things, the cross country: I didn't even have a hint of butterflies when I went into the start box, I was just so looking forward to a steady, fun round. HH set sail with the tail swishing, bottom bouncing (his, not mine
So, after much navel-gazing and chats with various peeps, the long and the short of it is that I've only got one of the three parts that really needs some work; I've got to be patient (I'm trying to learn to love the "p" word, but it's hard) and he's a big horse who's going to take time to get it all together, but when it does he'll be fab....not that he's not fab at the moment, but just not quite fab enough (spot the perfectionist).
Tea and scones for anyone who's not nodded off by now.
